Thoughts about the Ajit Pai / NRA thing.
A friend of mine was talking to me just now about that whole kerfuffle, and it took me a bit to wrap my head around it, but eventually I realized what he was telling me. Net Neutrality up until now has been an issue with bi-partisan support.
Suddenly that’s no longer certain.
The NRA, in the standard GOP narrative, is the group standing up for individuals who consider guns an important part of not only personal identity, but the national identity of America. By associating themselves with Ajit Pai, the NRA is forcing an emotionally charged false dichotomy on anyone in the pro-gun camp who is also Net Neutrality. Without actually saying it - because it isn’t in any way true - they are implying that opposition to Ajit Pai and his work is also opposing the NRA and the right to bear arms. Basically, it’s “your internet or your guns.”
It’s simple, and it completely skipped my mind until it was pointed out to me.
My friend thinks this might happen again, trying to polarize the Net Neutrality base along other political issues, and I’m inclined to believe him. It’s a divide and conquer strategy, combined with, ironically enough, a DDoS or bandwidth attack. We just keep getting hit with more and more laws, more outrageous statements, more corruption, more cronyism, until there are too many issues to protest individually.
However, these two attacks do not work perfectly together. It defeats the point of dividing your enemy into smaller and smaller groups, if you keep giving each group a reason to oppose you.
There will be more diversionary, divide and conquer gambits in the future. Whatever happens, keep your eyes on the prize: A free and open Internet. And by extension, a free and open society. If there’s anything in the world worth fighting for, then that’s got to be it.